US Secretary Acosta at Belleville Training School.

“We were thrilled to welcome Secretary Acosta to our apprenticeship program in Belleville,” said Al Bond, Executive Secretary-Treasurer of the Carpenters Regional Council. “We work every day to train the safest, most highly skilled carpenters in the field. We share similar goals with Secretary Acosta and welcome his leadership in bringing Labor and business together to develop innovative solutions to workforce development.”

Secretary Acosta was in southern Illinois to speak to the Greater Belleville Chamber of Commerce and visited the Carpenters training school as part of a tour of strong, successful apprenticeship programs that can serve as models to other industries.

In June 2017, President Donald Trump signed an executive order calling for the Secretary of Labor to create and chair the Task Force on Apprenticeship Expansion. The mission of the task force was to identify strategies and proposals to promote apprenticeships. A final report was submitted to the president in May.

The Carpenters training school in Belleville currently serves more than 330 active Carpenter apprentices and 25 Millwright apprentices.

Secretary Acosta’s visit to the training facility follows his visit to the United Brotherhood of Carpenters International Training Center in Las Vegas on Tuesday, where he spoke at the interior systems conference.